ENC2 Podcast

Walter Lee Younger feels inadequate as a man because his mother runs the house, he works as a chauffeur, and he can't provide enough for his family. He copes with these feelings by drinking and putting his wife down. After a defining moment, he receives money and realizes that being a man is about being there for your family and setting a good example. Hello and welcome to today's episode of the English Composition 2 podcast with your host, Alex Milligan. On today's episode, we will be taking a deep dive into Walter Lee Younger from Lorraine Hainsbury's A Raisin in the Sun. Our task today is to try and understand what it is that makes Walter Lee feel as though he is not the man he should be, and how this changes throughout the story. First and foremost, you must understand the three main reasons Walter Lee does not feel like a man. The first reason Walter doesn't feel as though he is the man he should be is that his mother runs the house. Being in a house that his mother runs while he is the only man makes him feel like less of a man. The second reason Walter doesn't feel like a man is his job. Walter is the chauffeur for a wealthy man. Not only does Walter live under this man's thumb, but he is forced to drive him around to lavish locations which constantly reminds Walter of the life that he wishes he could live. The third and final reason Walter doesn't feel as though he is a man is he is not providing enough for his family. He wants to get his family out of the home that his father bought, but he simply can't afford it. These three reasons not only make Walter feel inadequate as a man, but they also make him feel trapped, as if he has no control over his life. Because he has no control in his own home with his mother running it, he has no control in his job as he is being bossed around, and he can't control how his family is treated by others due to their lack of money and power. Now that we understand why Walter feels this way, it is equally important to understand how he copes with these feelings. There are two main ways Walter copes with these feelings. The first, the most obvious, is his drinking. Walter drinks frequently and in abundance to try and push down the feelings of inadequacy and being trapped. The second and slightly more subtle way that Walter deals with these feelings can be seen in the way that he treats Ruth, his wife. Throughout the story, Walter and Ruth are constantly arguing and Walter is constantly putting Ruth down. This is Walter's attempt to gain some control over his life and the people in it, because he is not getting any control in other aspects of his life. A defining moment for Walter comes right after his mother uses his father's life insurance to put a down payment on a new house. You see, Walter thought the money should be used to open a liquor store. He believes the liquor store is the family's best shot of getting out of poverty. But his mother did not want the money from his father to be used on liquor. Walter was so devastated by the news that he skipped work for three days and got drunk at the bar. When his mother heard about this, she went down to the bar to talk to him and found Walter in a very sad state. Walter explained to his mother that he believed his window of opportunity had closed for the last time and that he would never amount to anything. His mother could see how much this hurt him, so she gave him the remaining $6,500 from the life insurance check and told Walter that he was to use half of it to pay for his sister's medical school and the other half to open up a checking account. All this money would belong to him now, and with this money, Walter would now act as the head of the family. Without the family's knowledge, Walter gave this money to Bobo, who would give the money to Willie to go get a liquor license so that they could open their liquor store. What Walter did not know is that Willie planned to run away with the money and screw both him and Bobo out of their money. When Bobo came and told Walter what Willie had done, Walter was shocked. The whole family immediately turned on Walter, except for Mama, who continued to support him. She understood that while Walter made a mistake, he was at his lowest point right now and needed to be supported. Sometime later, Walter told the family that he planned to call back man who had offered them money to not move into their new house. This man, Linder, offered them money to move into the new house so that the neighborhood would remain a white neighborhood. While the family initially declined the offer, Walter thought that this was their only way to recover from the mistake that he had made. The defining moment for Walter came when Linder arrived at the home. Walter told his son to go downstairs and play while the adults spoke. Before he could exit, Mama stopped him and told Walter that he has to show his son what it means to be a man. Walter was then quiet for some time. When he finally mustered up the words to speak, he told Linder that his family would in fact not be accepting his offer and that they would be moving into the house and there was nothing he could do about it. He said that his father worked brick by brick for that house and that his family would be moving in. In this moment, Walter finally realized that being a man is not about how much money you make, but it's about being there for your family in hard times and setting a good example for his son, showing him how a man carries himself with respect and that even though it is important to provide for your family, it's not everything and it's not always financial. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the English Composition II Podcast. Until next time, A-Train out.